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October 31, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. ... Rising to the top of the Western Conference are the Peoria Rivermen, winners of eight of their first 10 games in the American Hockey League.

Led by rookie head coach Steve Pleau, the Rivermen closed out October with a most impressive run, winning their last four games by a combined score of 19-1. Playing three games in three days over the weekend, Peoria convincingly swept a pair of outings in San Antonio, then returned home and defeated Houston to overtake the Aeros atop the West Division. Jason Bacashihua led the way for the Rivermen, stopping 67 of 68 shots in the three contests, improving to 5-0-0 and posting his first two shutouts of 2005-06.

Peter Sejna continues to lead the Rivermen in scoring with nine goals and 16 points in 10 games, including five multiple-point performances and seven power-play goals, tied for most in the AHL. Peoria is 8-0-0-0 when Sejna registers a point, 0-2-0-0 when he doesn't. And led by Sejna's offense, the Rivermen rank fifth in the AHL on the power play with 17 goals in 80 opportunities (21.3%).

Mike Glumac has added 13 points (five goals, eight assists) on the year, and shares the team lead in plus/minus rating at plus-6. Charles Linglet, who entered the season with seven games of career AHL experience, is riding a five-game scoring streak (3g, 4a). In fact, contributions have come from throughout the Rivermen roster, as 19 different skaters have found the scoresheet this season. Jon DiSalvatore, who has scored 22 goals in each of his first two AHL seasons, has contributed seven points in 10 games. Two of Troy Riddle's three goals have been game-winners. From the blue line, two-time AHL All-Star Mike Mottau has eight assists, while Trevor Byrne has added a goal and six assists, matching his output from 40 AHL games last season.

Peoria's penalty killers are clicking at an 89.9 percent success rate, good for fourth in the league, and have not allowed a goal in 28 consecutive shorthanded chances. The Rivermen as a team have allowed just one goal of any kind over the last 242:44 of playing time.

The Rivermen also have five players who have already seen time in the NHL this season with the St. Louis Blues: Curtis Sanford, Trent Whitfield, Jeff Woywitka, Colin Hemingway and rookie Lee Stempniak.

Peoria looks to carry its momentum into November, beginning with two games against Omaha at Carver Arena this weekend.

TALE OF THE TAPE ...

The average American Hockey League player is a shade over 24 years old, stands just over 6-foot-1 and weighs 202 pounds, according to a study of the 659 players listed on the 27 team rosters submitted to the league on opening night, Oct. 5.

The youngest team in the AHL is the Hamilton Bulldogs, averaging 22 years, 8 months. The Bulldogs feature 10 players age 21 and under, including first-round draft picks Marc-Antoine Pouliot and Andrei Kostitsyn. The biggest teams are the Springfield Falcons (6-2, 213) and the Hartford Wolf Pack (6-2, 212). Hartford's lineup boasts heavyweights like Martin Grenier (6-6, 260), Bruce Graham (6-6, 235), Hugh Jessiman (6-5, 220) and Jake Taylor (6-5, 225), while Springfield is home to Evgeny Artyukhin (6-4, 254), Andre Deveaux (6-3, 240) and the biggest player in the AHL, Mitch Fritz (6-8, 258).

More than two-thirds of all AHL players (67.5 percent) are under the age of 25, including 43.2 percent who are 22 and younger. Canadian-born athletes make up 64.5 percent of the AHL player pool, followed by Americans (22.6 percent), Czechs (3.6%), Finns (2.0%) and Slovaks (2.0%).

The prototypical AHL player for 2005-06: Grand Rapids forward Matt Ellis, a native of Welland, Ont., who checks in at 24 years, 2 months; 6-foot-1 and 203 pounds.

ETC. ...

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton moved to 9-0-0-0 with wins over Hershey and Syracuse; the Penguins are two shy of Rochester's AHL record for most victories to begin a season, set in 1984-85... With a goal and four assists in a 6-4 win over Toronto over the weekend, Rochester's Derek Roy now has three separate five-point nights this year, each on a Friday... After starting the season on a six-game losing slide, Binghamton got two goals from former Lock Monster Jeff Heerema and defeated Lowell on Sunday evening, 3-2... Manchester's Jeff Tambellini, a first-round draft pick by Los Angeles in 2003, recorded a goal and two assists in regulation, then scored the only shootout goal in the Monarchs' 4-3 win over Hartford on Sunday... Jean-Francois Jacques scored three goals in a span of 3:50 during the second period of Hamilton's wild 7-6 win over Syracuse on Friday, a game that featured a combined 10 power-play goals... Al Montoya, a N.Y. Rangers first-round pick in the 2004 draft, made a franchise-record 51 saves in Hartford's 3-2 win over Bridgeport on Saturday... After recording one assist in his first four games of 2005-06, Lowell forward Chad Larose picked up five goals and two assists in four games last week... Martin St. Pierre recorded a point on all five of Norfolk's goals in a two-game series split with Albany... Jiri Hudler's league-best 12 goals for Grand Rapids this year match his total from all of 2004-05 (52 games)... Pekka Rinne stopped 42 of 43 shots combined as Milwaukee snapped out of an 0-3-0-1 rut with weekend wins over Houston and Omaha... Chicago used four different starting goaltenders - Steve Shields, Gregg Naumenko, Michael Garnett and Adam Berkhoel - in four games last week... With his 34-save effort last Tuesday, Omaha's Brent Krahn has stopped all 70 shots he has faced in two trips to Iowa's Wells Fargo Arena this season... Cleveland defenseman Matt Carkner had two points in Thursday's 5-4 loss to Manitoba, including his first goal in 80 games since Apr. 10, 2004... Philadelphia lost all four stops on its five-day New England road trip last week... Springfield rebounded from 8-2 and 7-3 losses in its previous two outings to defeat the Phantoms on Sunday, 3-2... Portland rookie Ryan Shannon, who has recorded a point in all eight games this season (7g, 5a), will chat live on theahl.com this Thursday, Nov. 3, at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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American Hockey League Stories from October 31, 2005


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